GATTON ALUMNI DUO’S HOTEL INVESTING SUCCESS: SATORI COLLECTIVE

Andy Chopra and Samir Yajnik grew up on opposite sides of the Bluegrass State — but thanks to the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics, they have a 25-plus-year friendship and a thriving business partnership.

Together, Chopra, co-founder and managing partner, and Yajnik, the managing principal and chief investment officer, are guiding Satori Collective — which has a blue and white logo, in a nod to their UK roots — in delivering an outsized, riskadjusted returns in hotel investing.

A Love Match

Chopra was born in Toronto, Canada. His family moved several times before his father, who was in the hotel business, settled the family in Paducah when Chopra was in second grade.

Chopra’s introduction to UK came when he accompanied his older brother on college campus tours. “When we toured Kentucky, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize that Lexington had this much to offer. It’s a bigger town than I thought and UK is a great school,’” he said, adding that UK was the only school he ended up applying to and was accepted for early admission.

In comparison, Yajnik grew up in a small town on West Virginia’s border with Kentucky. While his home had a Mountain State address, his father’s medical practice was in Kentucky.

By Dorian Martin

Always athletic, the younger Yajnik found that he was particularly drawn to tennis. He attended tennis summer camps in grade school at both UK and West Virginia University. “My mom tells me that one summer I did both camps, and I came back and said, ‘Mom, if I can play tennis at Kentucky, that’s where I’m going,’” he said.

When it finally was time to choose a college, his initial instinct proved on target. When I went back to Kentucky, the campus just resonated with me,” he said. “It was very familiar and close to family.”

Changing Direction

Both enrolled in Kentucky with different visions for their future. For Chopra, it meant putting aside his dream of being an architect. “I have this creative side of my brain that needs to be fed,” he said. “At the time, my first-generation immigrant parents said, ‘What do you mean, you want to be an architect? Be a doctor, engineer or lawyer.’”

Dissuaded, the young man began searching for a career that would tap his creative and entrepreneurial gifts. “In marketing, you can use the creative side of the brain, but you still have the base knowledge from taking economics, finance and accounting courses as well,” he said. “It seemed like a nice mix to feed both sides of the brain.”

Like Chopra, Yajnik, who initially was pre-med, began searching for a degree program that would be a good fit. “I really liked finance because of the numbers, the equations and the relationships between different variables,” he said, noting he also earned an engineering minor in computer science. “What I learned through that experience is that while I like the thought process of computer science, I had no interest in being a programmer. But I liked the intersection between business and technology.”

Creating A Career Path

Chopra landed at Johnson & Johnson as a product specialist after college. He remained with the company for seven years, earning an MBA from Oglethorpe University. “The company checked the boxes that I was looking for in terms of learning how huge multinational Fortune 50 companies operate, getting exposure to different business lines and traveling the world,” he said. “But then I felt the golden handcuffs being applied — and I knew I wasn’t wired to work for someone else.”

In 2007, he bid on a few hotel properties, but the bid failed — which was fortunate since the economy crumbled later that year. “Most times, things work out how they’re supposed to,” he said, adding that his now business partner, Rakesh Chauhan, also failed to win the bid on the properties. “This experience encouraged us to discuss combining resources, efforts and Rolodexes.”

In 2009, Chopra and Chauhan started Banyan Investment Group. Chopra also enrolled in Georgia State University’s Master of Science in Real Estate program and graduated in 2011.

Meanwhile, Yajnik found he gravitated toward investment banking and finance. After interning at Merrill Lynch’s retail brokerage office in Lexington, he sent resumes to every investment banking contact he could. He also flew to New York City and tried to get his foot in the door at various financial firms.

SAMIR YAJNIK MANAGING PRINCIPAL AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER